Our first three months income report covered the startup period honestly — the slow month one, the improving month two, and the more stable month three. This report covers months six through twelve: the period where the learning curve has flattened and the question becomes whether this income is durable and scalable, not just whether it starts.
The Platform Stack at Month Six
By month six of active work across Mercor, SME Careers, and DataAnnotation.tech, a few things had stabilized that were unpredictable in months one through three:
- Task matching improved — Mercor's project matching had become more targeted to our specific background over time, consistent with what we describe in our task matching piece
- Guideline familiarity reduced effective hourly cost — tasks that required 20 minutes of guideline review in month one required 5 minutes in month six, raising the effective hourly rate without a pay rate change
- Slow periods became more predictable — we identified that certain times of year were consistently slower and could plan buffer income accordingly
Months 6-12: Realistic Income Ranges
| Month | Gross Income (EUR) | Hours Active |
|---|---|---|
| Month 6 | €1,050 | ~22 hrs |
| Month 7 | €1,380 | ~28 hrs |
| Month 8 | €620 | ~12 hrs (slow period) |
| Month 9 | €1,240 | ~25 hrs |
| Month 10 | €1,610 | ~31 hrs |
| Month 11 | €1,820 | ~35 hrs |
| Month 12 | €2,100 | ~40 hrs |
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What Month 8 Looked Like
Month 8 was a genuinely slow period — €620 across 12 hours of available work. This is the income volatility we describe in our honest downsides piece, made concrete. Without a buffer from months 7 and earlier, this would have been a difficult month. With a buffer, it was an inconvenience rather than a crisis — which is exactly why we consistently recommend treating this income as supplementary and building a 2-3 month buffer before relying on it for anything essential.
Month 8 was €620. Month 11 was €1,820. The range is real. The direction over twelve months was clearly upward — but that upward trend had a significant dip in the middle. Planning around the dip is more important than celebrating the peak.
What Changed by Month 12
By month twelve, two things had changed that didn't exist in month one: a track record on all three platforms that influenced task matching, and a much clearer picture of which platforms and task types produced the best effective hourly rate for our specific background. The rate tracking system we recommend was running continuously by this point and had identified that our effective rate on Mercor tasks was significantly higher than on DataAnnotation.tech for our specific skill set — useful data that only became visible through tracking.
The Bottom Line at Twelve Months
€13,420 gross over 12 months — roughly €1,118/month average across the full year, including month eight's slow period. For part-time, flexible work that required no fixed schedule commitments, this was the outcome. Your numbers will differ based on your background, task availability in your domain, and how much time you can allocate — but the trajectory (slow start, growing middle, more stable end) is consistent with what we hear from other long-term contributors across the platforms we review.
For those considering VA work alongside AI training, our VA vs AI training comparison covers pay, ceiling, and client overhead differences.
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